The 12th Fontana Book of Great Ghost Stories

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I have often thought that there ought to be more ghosts – of one kind or another – on the sea than the land. After all, there is more of it and water could be a perfect conductor for the peculiar vibrations that appear to be necessary for psychic phenomena. Ships are but floating houses, that over a period of time must become saturated with emotional atmosphere which – under certain circumstances – may be able to crystallize as a time-image.

This could be an explanation for the countless stories of so-called phantom-ships; ghosts that float over the water and other like disturbances. In Escort by Daphne du Maurier we have a tramp steamer on its way home from a Scandinavian port some time during the last war that manages to avoid the unfriendly attentions of a U-boat by the intervention of a mysterious sailing vessel.

Well – it just might happen.

Returning to dry land, I must confess to a rather morbid curiosity as to what takes place immediately after death. Commonsense, a not very exciting commodity, says most emphatically – nothing. A state of non-existence. But having read Elaina by Elizabeth Fancett, commonsense takes a dive for the floor and is most reluctant to get up again. Here is a story of grief which will not allow a personality – a better word than soul, don’t you think? – to rest and forces him to walk a familiar path.

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